we talked to obama about this, and i said to him, mr. president, if you get into one of these wars without vital public commitment and consensus, it plays havoc with your domestic agenda because you lose your hold. you lose your credibility. remember johnson's credibility gap? how do you know when lending is telling you the truth? he begins to move his lips you know he is lying. [laughter] he didn't think it was funny but it was so revealing of the way in which his credibility was destroyed. when nixon said at a press conference, i am not a crook, that's when his presidency was over. no president has to tell the press in the country i am not a crook. you are finished. it's ridiculous. so you need consensus. you need support from a wide array of people. otherwise, you can't govern effectively. but roosevelt understood that and he had a public face and a private faith, and he manipulated. these subsequent presidents like truman and johnson and bush, they faulted on this count and they should've taken that fdr less and more seriously. serio